Artist: Mass
Album: Angel Power/Swiss Connection
Type: Album
Label: SPV Steamhammer

There exists a phenomenon in music whereby certain records gain kudos and reputation simply by being old and difficult to find. Unfortunately it’s not uncommon for these albums to be given the deluxe re-release treatment and revealed as absolute rubbish. ‘Angel Power’, the debut release from German metallers Mass falls perilously close to that. I’m not saying that it’s an entirely un-enjoyable listen, but then a second rate pub band playing covers of hoary old rock favourites can be enjoyable after a few pints. A second rate pub band is basically what Mass amount to – it’s just that instead of playing covers they’ve hacked riffs, lyrics, leads etc from their favourite tracks and stuck them together in the vague semblance of some original songs. I won’t spoil the fun for you, because playing spot the Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Krokus etc riff is about as entertaining as listening to ‘Angel Power’ gets. Although being completely honest I haven’t tried listening to it blind drunk yet. Some of you may say ‘hang on a minute this was released back in 1980, you have to make some allowances!’ I would reply that ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Back In Black’, ‘Heaven And Hell’, ‘British Steel’ and ‘Ace Of Spades’ came out the same year...and you certainly don’t need to make any allowances for that lot. The kindest I can be is to say that now and again I was reminded of my beloved ‘Bringer Of Evil’ album by Syron Vanes but then most people regard that as a load of tripe too. Buy if you must but don’t say you weren’t warned. Still as Paul Maddison is about to reveal...maybe Mass became brilliant overnight with their second re-released “classic”, ‘Swiss Connection’... (CK)

Hmm…following on, in 1981 you got ‘Point of Entry’ and ‘Killers’, ‘Mob Rules’, ‘Denim & Leather’ and ‘For Those About to Rock’, so MASS gave us ‘Swiss Connection’. Having a ridiculous album cover, I mean come on, a guitar peeking from behind the some hills/ the Alps; I guess it was funny at the time? Has Mass stood the test of time – no! Is it such a marked improvement as those great albums we have both mentioned earlier, kind of, but nowhere near in the same league that is for sure. We are talking Sunday league up to the blue square premier league, not even the entering the football league in terms of progression and improvement. Out of the tracks on offer ‘Shoot Out’ and ‘Fade Out’ offer the most metallic incarnation, but there is still a sense of déjà vu. Ok, vocally, Jack Burnside throws in some melodies here and there, but the music itself is just that bit boring and “borrowed” from other bands, and not even done well! I cannot even find a website for reference on this band, but I have included links from websites where you can listen to these two original recordings, albeit of poor audio quality. ‘Swiss Connection’ is an entertaining giggle, but I would advise that you go and spend your money on other SPV re-issues that are much more worthy. (PM)

http://www.spv.de
http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/test2/Mass4.html
http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/test2/Mass2.html

Chriss Kee & Paul Maddison

MTUK HOME